In Dreams
by the ticking clock
Summary: Legolas and Aragorn say goodbye for the last time...


_But in dreams..._

_I can hear your name..._

_but in dreams..._

_we will meet again..._

The song was quiet and flowing, soft and gentle. Legolas mouthed the words almost automatically as he stared out the window, his thin fingers clutching the windowpane so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

He knew this day would come, he had thought he had prepared himself for it, for the agony, the pain. But nothing could have prepared him for this.

"Las?" Aragorn's voice was soft, so quiet that only an elf's ears could have heard it, and Legolas turned, leaping to his friend's bedside and seizing his hand.

The king's gray eyes are dull, his breathing fast and shallow. His lips twitch into the smallest of smiles, and he reached up, catching a tear on Legolas's cheek with a trembling finger. "Don't cry mellon."

And then Legolas's throat closed up and he swallowed hard, clenching his eyes shut and pressing his head against Aragorn's chest, listening to the stuttering heartbeat that was slowing with each passing second. "How-how can you even say that?" He finally choked out, clenching his fingers into the fabric of Aragorn's tunic, clinging to his friend, his brother, as though his life depended on it.

And it did. Without Aragorn, without _Estel_ he didn't know how he was going to go on living.

The man had grown so old so quickly. At times it seemed that all Legolas had done was blink and the man had turned from an excited four year old into the aged king he was today. But sometimes it felt like centuries that they had been together, having adventures, laughing, singing, crying together...simply _living._

Aragorn smiled, sucking in a painful, laborious breath before whispering, "Oh Las...I..."

Legolas let out a real sob and wrapped his arms around his brother, holding onto him, memorizing the familiar, musky scent, the faint smell of pipewead, leather, and dirt that still clung to the king, even after years of giving up the Rangers.

When Legolas pulled away, Aragorn was watching him with silver eyes that were clear, and Legolas saw in them the small child he had chosen to befriend so many years ago, he saw the youth he had taught to fight, the young man he had spent many scouting trips rescuing, and the times when Estel had saved him. He saw the king Ellessar was, and the friend Estel and Aragorn were to him.

"Will you sing to me, Las?" Aragorn whispered, voice growing softer with each word, "Sing me to sleep?"

Because it was Aragorn, Legolas knew what he meant without having to ask. He slid his arms under the human's legs and back, lifting the man up and cradling him against his chest like a child. He paused for a moment to look down at the face he had grown to know so well, and saw only sadness. Grief for the suffering that Legolas was about to endure.

"I will never see you again," Legolas murmured, the tears falling more rapidly now, each silver droplet falling on his friend's face. "Not until all the ages have passed."

Aragorn shook his head. "In dreams...gwador nin."

Legolas leaned down and pressed a kiss to Aragorn's forehead. And then, holding his friend in his arms, he began to sing. It was a lullaby, a song he had for Estel when the human had only been three years old, and frightened of thunderstorms. As he sang, he danced. Leaping and spinning around the room, losing himself to the memories of joy and pain, of laughter and tears that were flashing behind his eyes.

When the song was finished Legolas fell to his knees, hugging Aragorn to his chest and burying his face in his friend's shirt, wild, wrenching sobs tearing through his chest, his whole body shaking with the force of his agony.

"Estel," He murmured, pressing his cheek against the soft fabric of Aragorn's jerkin, "We will meet again..." He swallowed hard, and the song flowed from his lips, the words lifting off his tongue seemingly off their own accord:

_When __the __Seas __and__ Mountains __Fall_

_ And we come, the end of days..._

_ In the dark I hear your call. _

_ Calling me there..._

_ I will go there...and back again..._


End file.
